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This is an archive article published on October 31, 2023

Manoj Jarange-Patil gets support of Shahu Maharaj: Marathas and Kunbis same, should get blanket reservation

While assuring the Maratha community’s support, Shahu Maharaj told Manoj Jarange-Patil he respects his demand for reservation.

shahu maharaj, jarange patil, maratha quotaShahu Maharaj travelled from Kolhapur to the Antarwali-Saraati village in Jalna district to extend his support to Maratha activist Jarange-Patil. (Express Photo)
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Manoj Jarange-Patil gets support of Shahu Maharaj: Marathas and Kunbis same, should get blanket reservation
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Urging the Maratha community to desist from resorting to violence or taking their own lives, Shrimant Shahu Maharaj Chhatrapati, a direct descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji, said on Tuesday Marathas will get reservations as the state government has found the proof required for the purpose.

Shahu Maharaj travelled from Kolhapur to the Antarwali-Saraati village in Jalna district to extend his support to Maratha activist Jarange-Patil, who is on a fast-unto-death protest to demand reservation for the community.

After meeting Jarange-Patil and persuading him to drink water for the sake of the community, Shahu Maharaj said, “Even if one proof is found, that is enough. But the committee appointed by the state government has come across 15,000 cases where the Kunbi records have been found”.

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Shahu Maharaj said Marathas and Kunbis are the same. “All of them do farming as their occupation. We are all one… We want blanket reservations for the entire Maratha community. The government will have to provide the reservation. The community is going to get reservations,” he said.

He also appealed to the Maratha youth not to take to violence to press for their demand. “Resorting to violent means like torching properties was too much. We should increase our strength and fight unitedly but not resort to arson,” he said.

As he assured that the entire community was behind him, Shahu Maharaj told Jarange-Patil, “I respect the demand made by Manoj Jarange-Patil. Maratha community should get a blanket reservation”.

After being persuaded by Shahu Maharaj, Jarange-Patil said he had taken a few sips of water and would do so for two days. “I respect Shahu Maharaj. I will drink water for two days. However, if we don’t get reservation after two days, I will not drink water”.

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“For me, the Maratha community is important. I am staging the fast unto death for my community…I will not accept half-hearted reservation or government resolutions. We want reservation for the entire Maratha community,” he added.

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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